Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra Thin in Rose Gold

The new Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra Thin collection of ultra-thin dress watches is, perhaps, the best choice for a person looking for a timekeeper that manages to look both elegant and dressy without being too conspicuous. Using a traditional mix of materials (what can be better for a gentleman than the usual combination of gold and leather,) it is not one of those visually “loud” timekeepers that are offered by so many upstarts. Instead, it delivers its message in a surprisingly gentle and soft voice. Now available in 18-carat rose gold and sporting black-colored dial, the watch offers the only two necessary indicators that we expect from a dress watch: an hour hand accompanied by a minute hand, both meticulously polished, both driven by an in-house ultra-thin self-winding movement. What more can one ask for?

The ultra-luxury Swiss brand has presented their super-slim Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra Thin watch in the beginning of the year at the SIHH 2010 industry event.

Just like its companion, the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar in Rose Gold that was unveiled at the same show, the Jules Audemars Extra Thin is powered by a version of AP’s tried and tested Caliber AP 2120 ultra-thin automatic movement (it is, of course, based on an older Jaeger-LeCoultre 920 movement,) which is perfectly visible through the sapphire display back in all its open-worked, hand-finished beauty.

Of course, being a “simple” two-hand watch, the AP JA Extra Thin uses a base version of the movement.

Not burdened by the perpetual calendar and other complications, the base caliber is only 2.45 mm thin and 28.4 mm in diameter, which makes it just slightly larger than a dollar coin! In fact, the AP 2120 is about 0.1 mm thicker than the Piaget’s 1208P micro-rotor caliber that currently holds the title of the world’s thinnest automatic movement and powers the Piaget Altiplano automatic ultra-thin watch.

However, AP’s movement is still the one of thinnest among automatic movements with central rotor design (it is, as a matter of fact, on par with the VC 1120 engine that powers the Vacheron Constantin Historique 1968 model.)

AP’s engineers managed to squeeze into such a small volume as many as 214 brilliantly finished parts with the mainplate and bridges being circular-grained and adorned with the Cotes de Geneve motif. Its tiny spring-barrel holds enough juice to power the watch for as long as 40 hours.

It looks that, although using a very thin caliber, AP didn’t plan to create world’s thinnest automatic watch. Its 18-carat rose gold case is 6.7 mm in height, which makes it significantly thicker than the aforementioned offerings from Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. However, being around 41 mm in diameter, the case looks so thin that some of you may even have a strong urge to insert it into a slot machine!